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Steelers Chances of Retaining Keenan Lewis look Promising

I'm not privy to any inside info on this matter, but I have a gut feeling a deal will be done to keep Lewis here for the next five years.
The Steelers invested a good deal of time developing Lewis to one of the best in the game, I doubt they would squander that investment by letting him walk and will offer him a reasonable contract.
He likes it here, and gets along well with Carnell Lake who had a pivitol role in the developement of Keenan. He knows the LeBeau defense and might feel more comfortable staying here even if its a little less money on the table.

With Keenan and Cortez we have a formidable set of young corners, getting a good safety in the draft could solidify our secondary and help our defense remain strong.
I may have to change my pre-draft selection@ #1, and I wouldn't mind at all if Keenan wears the Black & Gold for 2013.

My initial thought was that he would of course be talking about himself as the best corner in the league and avoid the “besides Richard Sherman” piece. However, if they didn’t allow him to do that I would have guessed Darrell Revis after Sherman’s Bourbon Street antics during Super Bowl week where he asked multiple people who the best corner was between himself and Revis. That wasn’t quite how it broke down though.

Richard Sherman, a budding star at corner for the Seattle Seahawks, joined NFL Total Access yesterday on the NFL Network and one of the questions he answered was: Who is the best corner back in the league not named Richard Sherman? His answer of course started with Darrell Revis, but since Revis did not play last year he did not pick him.

“Well if Revis is playing than I would say that it’s him, but this year he didn’t get a chance to play.” Sherman said. “And so there were some pretty good performances; Tim Jennings (Chicago Bears) had a great year. But I think it would be out of probably Antonio Cromartie (New York Jets) and Keenan Lewis from Pittsburgh doesn’t get a lot of respect, but he is a heck of a corner. So I think it’s a close call between those guys and Charles Tillman (Chicago Bears). That’s the discussion.”

In essence Sherman just named Lewis as one of the top corners in the league, if not the top corner, behind Revis and himself. Now that is really high praise for a guy that wasn’t even the top corner on his own team (Lewis was second on the depth chart behind Ike Taylor in 2012). My initial reaction was: “Great he just priced Lewis way out of the Steelers range.”

Sherman’s comments could also help get Lewis’ name out there for those fans who weren’t aware of his talents before. Lewis is entering his first year of unrestricted free agency and if everyone in the NFL views him as Sherman does he will be getting paid very well this off-season.

The Steelers would like to keep Lewis around and build their secondary around him and Cortez Allen, but if another team views him as a top corner in the league the Steelers may get priced out of contention. Pittsburgh is currently in salary cap troubles and those issues will have to be fixed for them to offer Lewis the money that others may be willing to offer him.

It would be a shame for the Steelers to lose Lewis just as he is turning the corner in his NFL career. He struggled through his first two years in the league and finally started to show flashes in 2011, but in 2012 he solidified himself as a very good corner. Corner has been a valuable commodity recently in the NFL with the switch to a passing league so Lewis could be in for a big pay-day even if that means he leaves Pittsburgh.

Strangely, Chadman isn't as worried about losing Lewis as he has been in the past. Cortez Allen looks good, and drafting at #17... Chadman hasn't been able to identify good 'value' in Round 1 until maybe now... the Steelers will be in position to draft one of the top 3-4 CB's in this draft class. In fact, only 1 CB is fully expected to be gone by #17 in Milliner from Alabama. It might be time to grab a CB that can do more than chase WR's around & might actually offer some take-away ability. Have him play #3 Cb this season, move on from Taylor next year & you have Rookie & Allen as the starting CB's for the next 6 years.